March 23, 2007

John Backus RIP

John Backus, the inventor of FORTRAN died this week. The world loses another old head and builds from his discoveries and work.

I personally had a love hate relationship with FORTRAN. I learned FORTRAN IV in advance of the FORTRAN 77 standard. Yeah I was still a kid in highschool but I recognized flaws with the language when I saw them. I actually tried to build a game in FORTRAN. That's why I hated it. It was just too inflexible. If only I had seen Simula back then.

But I came to love Backus when I learned BNF, and have appreciated him for that, ever since. Rest, great man.

Comments

John Backus RIP

John Backus, the inventor of FORTRAN died this week. The world loses another old head and builds from his discoveries and work.

I personally had a love hate relationship with FORTRAN. I learned FORTRAN IV in advance of the FORTRAN 77 standard. Yeah I was still a kid in highschool but I recognized flaws with the language when I saw them. I actually tried to build a game in FORTRAN. That's why I hated it. It was just too inflexible. If only I had seen Simula back then.

But I came to love Backus when I learned BNF, and have appreciated him for that, ever since. Rest, great man.